The Same Sky Part 2 of Chance
by June Maris
Summary: Skye Aspen lives and journeys in the Pokémon region after winning a contest, accompanied by the other winner Xavier Thames.
1. Chapter 1

THE SAME SKY

Part II of Chance

By Carissa Ward

"You training in your pajamas?"

I blushed as I realized that I was indeed still wearing them. And with a twinge I also remembered that I had forgotten everything else I was going to bring. I turned toward the two people here with us and found I recognized one. "Hello Ms. Oetke. What are you doing here?"

The other winner stood up, "Wait," went up to the younger one, "You're the lady who was at the testing station.

Seemingly nervous, she glanced toward Ms. Oetke, who smiled, "Yes. The people that you met working at the winners' testing stations were to be chosen to greet you and… watch out for you in the Region. See Prof. Oetke is a scientist and I wanted to be a scientist. I'm her apprentice now."

"Good for you," I said.

"Thanks."

"It's good to see you again, Skye," said Prof. Oetke, "This is Jan Richmond. Let's get down to business. If you two would like to change your names now is the time to do it."

I spoke first, "I would like to keep my name the same… Well, maybe I should change my last name...?"

"You think on that," said Prof. Oetke, "And you?"

"I would like to change my name to Xavier Thames."

"Okay," she looked displeased, "But are you certain you don't want to keep your first name?"

"I'm sure. Xavier is cool." I got a better look at him. He was a good two feet taller than me and thicker. He had sandy hair and eyes of a similar color.

She sighed and took out… I don't know what it was. It looked like a white tablet. She took out something like a DS stylus and wrote on the touch screen, "Skye?"

"I think I'll change my last name to Aspen."

"Oh, so you truly want to be a scientist?"

"I'm not really sure. Does that mean I can't have a tree name? I didn't know that was actually such a big thing… I mean… Your name…"

"There has actually been a tree named after me but you're right, it doesn't really matter. Look at Jan. So, you want Aspen to be your last name?"

"Yes."

She wrote it down, "Okay then. Have you two brought anything?" Xavier took off his backpack, "And be sure to empty your pockets."

I looked in my breast pocket to find the picture of Roy, Johnny and I. I must have put it in there last night before I went to bed. If anything, this is what I wanted to have with me most, "Can I bring this?"

"Wait a second," said Jan.

A man came from a door off to the side. He took Xavier's backpack, looked at my picture, said, "It's fine," and walked out.

"He'll be looking through your backpack in another room," the Professor told Xavier. She then walked to a large bin I hadn't noticed. She pulled out two stacks of clothes and handed one to each of us, "These are your traveling outfits. There are rooms you can change in over there," she pointed down a hallway to the right.

When we got back there were two backpacks on the coffee table, a pile of Xavier's things, and his old backpack.

"Was I picked just for the color scheme?" I asked the Professor, while Xavier laughed as he looked down at his own clothes. I was wearing a light blue tank top and sneakers. The shorts and jacket were black, and so were the fingerless gloves. Xavier was wearing jeans, a gray t-shirt and an olive green jacket and hat with a Poké Ball design on it. He was wearing it backwards, "Did you decide on the clothes?"

"I picked yours. Jan did Xavier's. I thought the black would complement your hair."

"Well thank you. I've always wanted gloves like these."

"What're those?" asked Xavier indicating the backpacks.

"Your backpacks. They contain all the basic things you'll need on your journeys, including a few meals, a sleeping bag, a map and one potion," we smiled, "Here are your trainer belts," they handed us each a big, thick, black belt with 5 empty, shrunken Poké Balls, already clipped to it. We put them on, "And here are your Pokédexes," she gave us each a red Pokédex that looked exactly like the one from the first season, "They have several functions. As well as being a Pokédex, it has PokéGear apps, a camera, plant encyclopedia, it's your identification, and it can scan a Pokémon and give information about it. It has other helpful information as well. Please start packing your things Xavier."

"Okay," while he did that I packed my jacket and Pjs.

Ms. Richmond continued, "You've both been given 3,000 Pokés. Don't get excited that's worth about 30 American dollars. If you need any more money you'll have to earn it. People ask trainers to do odd jobs all the time; requests are posted on Pokémon Center bulletin boards. Any money you have now or in an account or at home will be put in to a savings account until you're eighteen, this is supposed to be a new start for you. Your room, though it shouldn't be used often, is in Pro- our lab. All your things will be shipped over and stored in it. And also, when they're picked up, a video phone will be given to your families."

"… Is that it?" I asked.

"Just about. Are you done Xavier?"

"Yup."

"Let's go then," said Ms. Oetke. We walked down another hallway leading to the back of the building.

"Is this all the building's for?" asked Xavier.

"It's where the people working this event have been staying. What is left of us will be leaving today with you two."

"Are we leaving on that boat?"

"Yes… Here it is." We'd gotten to another set of glass doors. On the other side of them was a dock and lined up next to it was the biggest boat I'd ever seen, not that I'd seen many boats. Painted on the side of it was 'S.S. Anne.' We went outside and walked up a flight of stairs leading to the deck. There were four people clustered around a shaded table but that was it. Prof. Oetke and Jan led us inside and down a flight of stairs and a long white hallway to-

"This is your cabin," said Jan, "The boat ride is about three days long."

"And here are your Pokémon." They each handed us an enlarged Poké Ball, "They were chosen for you based on part of the personality section of the test. I'm sorry you won't get to experience the tradition of picking one of the three main types. Also, we request that you do not open them until the skyline is out of sight."

"Can do," said Xavier.

"Sure," I agreed.

"Good-bye now. And good luck," said Jan.

"Huh?"

"We'll see you when you make it to the lab," said Prof. Oetke. Then they turned around and walked away. Xavier and I stammered good-byes after them and went into the cabin.

The whole western wall was a window, giving us a full view of the building. There was a couch lining the north wall, a TV hanging on the side with the door, and on the south wall was a bunk bed. I sat down on the couch with my Poké Ball still in hand.

"So, how old are you?" I asked.

"Just turned- I'm Fourteen. You?"

"Thirteen."

"Wow. I found it hard to believe you were ten."

Now I was annoyed with this boy. I could handle the smart-alecy comment about my pajamas, which I'd wonderfully gotten to take with me, but he should know better than to make fun of someone's height.

"Um… Sorry," he realized he had crossed a line, "So what type are you hoping your Pokémon is?"

"Well," still annoyed, "I'm betting it going to be one of the three main types. I'm hoping it's water, because…" I didn't want to tell him I couldn't swim, give him more ammo, "What do you want?"

"I really want fire, cause, ya know, it's so powerful."

I noticed the building outside getting smaller, "Hey we've left the dock!"

Suddenly, a loudspeaker that I had not noticed before came on, "Hello victors, this is the captain speaking. If you would like to watch the Non Pokémon Populous (NPP) Regions' broadcast of you entering the main building, please turn on the television now and change it to channel nine. I would also like to request that you do not leave the cabin or deck."

"They videotaped that?" I said.

Xavier looked around for a remote and found one on the side table. He pressed the power button. On the screen came Nurse Natalie who was standing in front of a green screen that showed the front of the building, "Hello," she said, "You are about to see the victors at their final stop before leaving for the Pokémon Region. Here comes fourteen year old Xavier Thames, his father, and younger sister Sophie." Nurse Natalie stepped out of the screen.

Xavier and his family were shown walking away from a mini van and toward the doors. The little girl looked proud but his father looked sad.

"Hey, she's the girl Johnny was playing with at the Pokémon Center in New York!" For some reason he wouldn't meet my gaze.

"What a coincidence," then he went to staring intently at his family.

His father's low, resonant voice filled the room, "You do your best. Make us proud."

"I will. Goodbye dad. Goodbye Sophie." He bent down, gave her a hug and went inside. His family got back into their minivan and drove away.

Nurse Natalie came back on the screen, "And our female victor is thirteen year old Skye Aspen. Here she is with her brother Johnny and family friend Roy." She stepped off the screen.

I watched as Roy swung me up into the air and we said our goodbyes. I watched myself whisper to Johnny that I would find a way to get him to the Region. Thankfully whatever microphone they used couldn't pick that up. After Roy pushed me inside the building Nurse Natalie came back on the screen.

"Congratulations to the victors and good luck on your Journey." The Nurse left the screen and then the regular reporters came back on. Xavier switched it off.

"Why weren't your parents there?"

"They were busy."

"Too busy for that? Really?"

"They were in New Zealand! And I hadn't given them any warning." I don't know why I was being so defensive. Anyway, subject change, "Do you think they've decided which… Ya know, Region within the Region we're going to? Will we pick it ourselves?" I asked Xavier.

"Let's look at the map." We pulled them out. At the top it said Tenkimaguro.

"This is the one with King Damien, right?"

"Think so. Let's ask the Pokédex about it."

"Will it know anything?"

"I dunno."

I took out my Pokédex and opened it, "Where's the power button?"

"I think it's the blue one." I pressed it.

"Hello, I am a Pokédex given to you by the renowned Prof. Oetke. How may I be of service?"

"Umm," I couldn't find a keyboard.

"I am voice activated."

"Cool!" Exclaimed Xavier, "What can you tell us about the Tenkimaguro Region?"

"I contain approximately 11.84 Gigabytes of information on the Tenkimaguro Region. Do you need specifics?"

"Could you tell us the most important stuff," I said, "Pokémon trainers should know?"

It loaded for a while, as if it was having a hard time processing my vague request, "The weather in the Tenkimaguro Region is controlled by Pokémon. Therefore it is very erratic and arbitrary, though temperature below freezing levels is usually only seen in fixed areas. There is a variety of terrain. Deserts, forests, mountains, glaciers, etc. There are several islands surrounding it. Like most Regions it has eight official gyms."

"Wait," I said. I got out the map and a pencil I found in one of the front pockets, "Which towns have a gym?" I circled the towns as it listed them."

"SturoStone, Bellice, Bikiary town, Kennelworth, Rugglebruggy City, Jacamar Island, Telsing City, and Twixtin Town. Once you have beaten all the gyms you are qualifiable for entry in Trune's tournament, held in Hiver City."

"… Thank you," I turned it off, "That is one advanced piece of machinery. I thought the shows just exaggerated."

"Guess not. Hey, let's look at our stuff." So we looked in our bags to find a small spray bottle. It was purple and about the size of a mini water bottle.

"This must be a potion," I said. We pulled out the lunch bags and inside there were several of those weird rice things that they always showed on the TV show. There were also a ton of berries from the video games, "Neat! I think this one's an Oran berry. Let's ask the Pokédex." I didn't even have to turn it on.

"The Oran berry, restores 10 HP." It showed a picture of it on the screen. "The Mago berry, restores 12.5% HP but confuses Pokémon that dislike sweet food. The Razz, the Ganlon, and the Cornn berry. All are safe for human consumption." It stopped.

I looked through the bags some more. There was a small blue journal and a little bag of toiletries. The sleeping bag was thin, probably to make extra room in the backpack. Hopefully it would still be warm. The 3,000 Pokés came in one 1,000 bill, two 500 coins and ten 100 coins. As I recall from the _Information Book_, aside from that, there are 50 coins, 5,000 and 10,000 bills.

"Look the Skyline is almost out of site!"

I looked out and saw that it was true. We had been so absorbed with all of our discoveries we hadn't bothered to look out the window. I held up my Poké Ball, that I had not let go of this whole time, and again attempted to look through it like you could in the manga. But no dice.

"We have to battle, after we've met our Pokémon."

"Don't you remember what happened at the beginning of Black and White? We shouldn't battle indoors."

"… We can battle on the deck."

"Okay."

"But no wussing out!"

"Got it," I rolled my eyes internally.

We couldn't say anymore. The anticipation of meeting our first, _our own, _Pokémon was overwhelming. Five minutes later the skyline was gone. We stood up.

"You want to go first?" He asked. He looked scared all of a sudden. Nervous.

"Okay," He backed up a bit. I was nervous as well but elated. I held it in front of my face, pressed the button, and it opened. A white light glowed in a patch on the floor beneath my hand. In seconds it morphed into a Pokémon.

"_Grrrrowe! Growe lithe_!" He sounded like dog able to talk. On the floor in front of me was an orange dog with several black stripes, and puffy cream-colored fur on his tummy, tail and on top of his head. He looked up with gigantic brown eyes. He was half as tall as me so when I sat down in front of him we were face to face. He licked my nose.

I giggled, "Hello Growlithe," I rubbed him briskly with both hands. I fell over when he jumped on me and continued to lick my face. He was a lot warmer than most dogs. I messed with his ears.

"Growlithe's the best!" Exclaimed Xavier, "You're so lucky."

"I know I am," I was grinning from ear to ear, "Now you see your Pokémon."

"Yeah," Xavier held his Poké Ball away from him and pressed the button with the same hand holding it. It opened and the glowing white mass formed in the air in front of his face. A Hoppip appeared. He was a floating red-pink sphere with two tiny legs, two tiny arms, one tiny tail, and two leaf-like appendages sprouting from the top of his head.

I thought Xavier would be disappointed, with his attitude so far, but he was elated. With a big grin on his face he held out his hand for Hoppip to land on. He saw my expression at his and covered it up, "I guess it's an okay Pokémon."

"_Haawp_," He said looking sad.

"No no! I think you're awesome."

I took out my Pokédex, "What is the entry for Growlithe?"

"Extremely loyal, Growlithe will remain motionless until permitted/ordered by its trainer."

"Anything else?"

"Growlithe is a very trustworthy, friendly and brave Pokémon. It will fiercely protect its trainer and territory even when faced against bigger and stronger foes. Growlithe has an amazing sense of smell. Once it has smelled something it will never forget the scent. It can even use its sense of smell to determine the emotions of other beings. They are often used as police dogs and live in-"

"Thank you. Can you… Scan him? For-" Immediately the information showed up on the screen, "Great! He is on level five, knows Bite and Roar, has 32 HP, full right now, has a hardy nature, likes to relax, and has the ability flash fire. How does it know all that?"

"Primarily I have an X-ray scanner built to sense brain tissue, which is-"

"Thank you."

"You don't have to say thank you to it, it's a machine."

"How else can I say to stop… talking..."

"Mmhmm," He took out his own Pokédex, "What's Hoppip's entry?"

"A Hoppip's body is so light that to prevent being blown away…"

Despite everything I'd never given much thought to what my first Pokémon would be. But, like Xavier said, it couldn't get much better than a Growlithe. Right now he was sniffing my hair. I wonder if I could find some toy for him play with. Oh, Xavier was talking.

"-Mischievous, is on level 10 right now and has the attacks Splash, Synthesis, Tail Whip, and Tackle."

"But that's double Growlithe's level!"

"Well, if I remember correctly, that's the level that Hoppip learns its first offensive attack."

"Correct."

"Hey, only talk if I ask… That would be good," We were both having a little trouble figuring out how to act towards the Pokédex.

"I would know how hard it is to train a Pokémon without an offensive attack," I said, "I was a Ralts fanatic. And I can't imagine trying to train one without another Pokémon. How Wally did it I'll never know," I joked.

"Heh, yeah. Thankfully they wouldn't make it that hard for a new trainer. But, in the real world you _can _train Pokémon without batting. It's still the best way though."

"So how 'bout we have that battle now?"

"Well, umm, I don't want to… ruin the moment."

"Please, let's do it, just like in the games," He bounced on the balls of his feat nervously, "Oh, come on, Hoppip is five levels higher than Growlithe, and he doesn't even have any fire attacks."

"Can we at least wait until tomorrow?"

"Okay, then we battle."

Another voice came on the loudspeaker, "Hello, this is the kitchen staff," There was kitchen noise clattering in the background, "Would you and your Pokémon like something to eat? There is an intercom button next to the door."

Xavier went over and pressed it, "That would be nice. What do you have?"

"The dinner we're serving tonight is beet hoven, grubmüller, rice balls, and skevlabyka."

"What exactly are those things?" I asked, "Well, except the rice balls."

"Beet hoven is hoven with beets, they look kind of like an Oddish-"

"What is hoven?"

"… Hoven. I don't quite know how to explain that."

"The other things then. What were they? Gubmoller?"

"Grub-_mew-_ller. And it's tofu, I think."

"The other one?"

"Vegetable medley. Is that all to your liking?"

"Yeah," Said Xavier.

"Well send two dinners down there then along with two servings of Pokémon food."

"Thank you," I said but Xavier had already taken his hand off the button.

The dinners were delivered by a nice man wearing a Hawaiian shirt. We decided to eat in the cabin, which was fine for the Pokémon. Xavier threw the food pellets, which looked like thick Tootsie rolls, up for Hoppip to catch in the air. He didn't seem to like the floor too much. When we were done, and still hadn't figured out what hoven was, we went to bed. The Pokémon were back in their balls, shrunken down, and at his insistence Xavier got the top bunk. Two hours after his snoring started I drifted off as well.

We awoke to the sound of seagulls cawing. Wait, no, that's not right. I sat up and found myself on the floor. Good thing I wasn't on the top bunk. A flock of Wingull and Peliper were close outside the window. Leaning against it I stared at them intently. I could see each individual feather of the Wingull nearest to me. Flapping its rapidly it turned its head in my direction and opened its giant beak, "_Gall_!"

"Xavier, Xavier, get up! Look!"

He sat up, "What's going on?"

"Look outside."

He jumped out of bed and stood next to me, "Wow."

"I know, right?"

In a few minutes the flock had passed out of sight, "Hey, someone left us breakfast."

Behind us on the table was a big plate of rice balls, toast and Nanab berries, according to the Pokédex. We let out our Pokémon and shared it with them. As Growlithe was attacking toast under the bed I asked, "You ready for that battle?"

"After breakfast."

"Well duh."

So 'after breakfast' we took our Pokémon out onto the deck. The four people from yesterday were there again, playing cards. The deck was pretty empty aside from a few tables and crates. I stood facing away from the front of the boat and Xavier stood facing me. Growlithe was sitting by my feet and Hoppip was floating around Xavier's head. I kneeled down so I was level with him, "Are you ready for our first battle?"

"_Growlithe!_"

Both Pokémon went forward and the card players started watching. Seeing how Roar only switched the defending Pokémon with one in the party, I only had Bite to work with. They were only a few feet away now, Hoppip several feet above him.

"Jump and use Bite!" He made it, but it didn't hit very well.

"Tail Whip!" If I remember correctly, Tail Whip lowers defense.

"Do it again!" This time it missed entirely.

"Tail Whip!"

"Bite!"

"Tail Whip!"

It went on like this for quite some time. After a while we eventually got enough hits in so that Hoppip's HP was in the red. I had been scanning with the Pokédex the whole time.

"Come on Growlithe! Just one more good bite!"

"Use Synthesis!"

"No!" But there was nothing I could do as we watched Hoppip gain back all (it was very sunny out) the HP we'd worked so hard to chip away, "Hurry, Bite before he finishes!"

"Use Tackle!" Hoppip flew around to Growlithe's back after he'd jumped, and got a direct hit. Growlithe's HP bar on the Pokédex went straight to zero. All of those Tail Whips had done the trick.

I ran up to him lying unconscious on the ground. I used the potion in my backpack, giving back twenty HP, "You okay boy?"

"_Growe," _He said weakly, he was still exhausted.

"Why don't you take a rest in your Poké Ball," I returned him.

"Good game Skye." He held out his hand, I shook it.

"Good game Xavier."

"Now, about the prize money."

"Really?" I said incredulously. Giving prize money, according to the _Information Book_ was not done often in private battles, contrary to the video games. And when it was, it was always agreed on before hand.

"Just 200 Pokés."

"Fine," And I dished out two100 coins.

He started walking back to the cabin with Hoppip sitting on his head, "You coming?"

Amazed that he would act so jovial toward me after he took my money, it took me a minute to answer, "I'll stay here for a bit," I sat down on one of the crates close to the front of the boat.

** The card players gave me dirty looks as I walked by. I guess that was a bad move too. I'm not doing a good job being a cool bad boy. Either that or she's just not responding well to it. Maybe she would like me better the way I was before. That's never worked though. I have to keep cool and indifferent but I have to make sure I'm not being mean.**

** I don't want her to hate me but if I do something to make up for asking for prize money I could lose the image I'm trying to make. **

** I'm still hoping Xavier will grow on me. It hasn't yet.**

I lay on the crate for about an hour watching the clouds. I wanted badly to let Growlithe out of his Poké Ball but I knew he needed his rest. So I walked over to the card players.

"Hello. I'm Skye"

"We know," Responded a pleasant man with citrine hair, "I am Prof. Cypress."

"I'm Darnell."

"French."

"Prof. Scott."

"So, what game are you playing?" I asked.

"9-down," Answered French, "Would you like to play?"

"Thanks but I don't know how."

"It's a pretty popular game where we're going," He wiggled his eyebrows comically, "We could teach you."

"Oh," I said a little taken aback, "Thank you."

He motioned for me to sit down next to him and I did. He explained the rules to me. Basically you each started out with nine cards and if you lost all of them in the pile, you lost, but the process of loosing cards was long and complicated. The last person with cards won. They started a new game with me included.

"Why were you guys in America?"

Prof. Cypress answered, "Well, Scott and I, we were scientists working in the preliminary stations. You're really lucky you got Prof. Oetke. She's one of the most talented and renown researchers in the Region. And that Jan is lucky that she was allowed to work at a station. Not too many non-scientists were allowed. Most of us were sent back, to continue with our own work. But we stayed as volunteers. After the winners were picked only two scientists would be needed for the project at all."

"America's pretty neat," Said Prof. Scott, "Aside from the fact that the people aren't very nice," He paused, "Well, that's not quite right," He continued, "They're just not as… hospitable."

Darnell Spoke, "The testing looked for people who would be similar in that respect."

"I'm a little surprised that Xavier passed the personality section."

"… He didn't seem all that pleasant. I would know, I helped write it."

"Really? That's awesome."

"Not really. Tedious work. Something you might find interesting though, is that it was also supposed to make sure that the two winners got along. Has that been the case?"

"…I guess."

"I hope so. Otherwise I didn't do a very good job."

We went on playing and talking about the two different regions until it actually got dark. I got up and stretched.

"I should probably get back to the cabin. Will you four be out here tomorrow?"

"Actually," Said Prof. Cypress, "I spoke with some people earlier and there is a good chance that we'll be landing in the morning. You should probably get ready tonight," French was snickering and the others shot him dirty looks, "There's a bathroom a few doors down from your cabin."

"… Thank you and I'll do that. It was nice meeting you all! Maybe I'll see you in the Region."

"I hope so," "I'm sure." Then they chorused a good-bye and I went back inside.

The cabin was empty and I didn't have anything to get ready, it was all still in the bag. I grabbed it and went looking for the bathroom. Cypress spoke only the truth; the ladies locker room was just down the hall, with a men's room across from it. I could hear Xavier's botched version of the Zelda theme song from inside.

When I got back to the cabin Xavier was already snoring. Already in my cloud pajamas I walked over to the bed and found, on my pillow, a super potion.


	2. Chapter 2

When I opened my eyes my field of vision was framed by towering trees, bushy green ancients that framed a purple morning sky. I sat up and found that I was lying on a dirt path running through a dense forest. Xavier was sleeping face down a few feet ahead of me.

My first instinct was to get out of my pajamas. Thankfully, my backpack was by my side so I grabbed it and walked several yards into the forest. When I came back out I pulled the Poké Ball from my trainers belt (I'd put the empty ones in my bag) and let Growlithe out.

"How was your rest?"

"_Growlithe, Growe!" _ He saw Xavier, "_Lithe?"_

"Yeah, we should wake him up," Before I could, Growlithe ran over and placed his front paws on Xavier's shoulder and shook him.

He sat up groggily and looked around, "Where are we?"

Growlithe came back and sat at by my feet, "I don't know… Maybe the Pokédex will know," I took it out and asked it, "Where are we?"

"I do not possess that function. I suggest checking your map."

"You don't have a locater?!" Said Xavier, "Out of everything you have, you don't have a locater!"

I took out my map of Tenkimaguro. Near the center bottom was a flashing chibi face that bore a resemblance to me, "Well, it seems that we're in route 713... On the path to Twixtin Town. What do you think happened?"

"How should I know?… Maybe they took us here while we were still sleeping. After we landed… Kind of pointless if you ask me."

So that's what French was laughing about last night, "I don't know about that. It seems like a good way to be introduced to the Region. You know, better than starting off on a dock in a big city."

"Whatever. So should we head to Twixtin Town?"

"Don't think we could go anywhere else. Except the channel."

"Which way?"

I studied the map again and found that the compass in the upper left hand corner was sideways. That is, north was pointing to the left of the map. Slowly I turned the map in that direction and the little picture pointed to the top, "Whoa!"

"What?"

Carefully, I tested the map. It felt like regular paper. Regrettably I even tore a small piece of the ocean. I showed Xavier what was so strange.

"… I wonder if everything is that advanced here," I said.

"I don't know. It could be that this kind of thing is rare. I mean, how much money do you think they put into this 'project'? What's another hundred dollars for a couple of maps, compared to the millions in transportation, promotion, payroll, stations-?"

"You mean Pokés."

"Whatever."

"They did make a ton of money selling cases."

"Buy why did they do all this anyway? It couldn't be just for profit, because undoubtedly they didn't break even with just the cases. I mean for centuries they've managed to keep totally separate, why change now?"

"…Very deep. I hadn't thought of that."

"W-well," he slouched here, "Why would we care why. It's their loss."

Confused at his shift I changed the subject, "Well we'd better get going. According to the map scale there's more than a hundred miles between here and Twixtin."

"Okay then,"

The sun was high in the sky before we got to the first break in the path.

"Do you want to eat lunch before we go on?" I asked.

"Sounds good," he pulled out a sandwich and bit into it, "Ew, more grubmüller."

"I like grubmüller. Meat here must be expensive due to the lack of indigenous animals." I laid out some of the tootsie roll Pokémon food for Growlithe, who had been walking the whole way with us. "And who would eat Pokémon?"

"I'm going to miss it. I'll only get to eat it when I visit family."

A pang of homesickness hit me when he said that. Geeze it's only been, what, two days? I can't last that long?

Growlithe whimpered and crawled into my lap. I rubbed behind his ears when he looked up at me.

We ate in silence for awhile longer. When he finished Xavier stood up and said abruptly, "I don't think we have any reason to travel together."

"What? Wait a second-"

"The video game characters always traveled alone."

I was little slow to catch up with his new train of thought, "No, not always. And in the _Information Book_, it said trainers rarely travel alone. Why do you want to anyway?"

"I just think that's how it was meant to be. Both these paths lead to Twixtin Town. I'll take the left."

"Okay then, see you later."

"… Bye then."

* * *

><p>Hundreds of Pokémon noises sounded from the inky-darkness. The low hoos of Hoothoot keeping beat, the wordless bugs sounding not unlike the incessant chorus back home, the Murkrow cawing every so often, we passed what sounded like a mission of chattering Mankey and Primeape, there may have been a few Aipom among them, too. This is what I was worried about, when Xavier decided to split up, if I would be able to handle the night alone, but I wasn't alone. Growlithe was with me.<p>

I don't think I'll be much inclined to put Growlithe in his Poké Ball; I don't have a reason to. I remember telling Ms., no, Prof. Oetke a long time ago that one of the best things about coming to the Region would be to find out how Pokémon's think. Growlithe acted something like a cross between a human and a dog. Like the smartest collie.

I wondered vaguely if I would run across any wild Pokémon soon. That was supposed to be a common thing. Of course I probably had to stray off the path and go into the tall grass, but I didn't particularly want to come across any just then. The _Information Book_ said that nocturnal Pokémon were more dangerous.

Growlithe yawned adorably beside me and I kneeled in front of him, easily eye level. Rubbing behind his ears I asked, "You want to make camp?"

He shook his head as if to say, 'No, I can go on for hours,' but then he yawned again.

"Yeah, I'm tired too. Let's keep walking until we find a good place. I don't really want to sleep in the middle of the path."

Luckily, after about ten minutes, we came across a little clearing. It was a perfect circle, about twelve feet in diameter. It had relatively short grass and was tied to the path with a small trail, like the neck of a beaker.

It wasn't that cold of a night, so I put out my sleeping bag just to lie on top of. Growlithe sat at attention by the opening and I sat pulling him close so he'd relax. He set his head my right crossed leg. I didn't feel like sleeping just yet so I leaned back on my palms and listened to the forest again. After a minute, by which time I was sure I had heard quite clearly the name "Duskull" a few times, I remembered the mission I'd heard. Did Aipom usually travel with Mankey? I got out my notebook, set it on my other knee and started to record some of today's more interesting observations. Even the one about Growlithe's intelligence.

When I ran out of things to say I put it away and lay down. Growlithe crawled under my arm and immediately fell asleep. His gentle snores lulled me to sleep soon after.

* * *

><p>"Teddiursa?"<p>

When I opened my eyes a Teddiursa was standing over me, it looked remarkably like a teddy bear. My instinct was to snuggle it but common sense reminded me of every stereotypical nature movie I'd ever seen. If you get caught anywhere near a bear cub, the mama will kill you. And though interested I was if Ursaring acted the same, I didn't really want to find out.

Without bothering to put anything in my backpack, I grabbed my stuff and hightailed it out of there, Growlithe running behind me.

We took a break about an hour later. We'd made some good progress and were almost at the halfway point. Growlithe was digging a hole at the side of the road and I was eating a rice ball.

Growlithe barked and I looked up from my food and saw Xavier pounding up the road. He stopped running when he reached me. I stood immediately. There was a large rip on the front of his shirt soaked with blood, there were large black rings under his eyes and he looked on the verge of tears.

"Xavier! What happened?!"

"I saw *pant* I found a Teddiursa a ways back *pant* tried to catch it *pant* think its mom got me," *pant*pant*

"Did you loose it?"

"Think so."

I pulled out the first aid kit from the bottom of my bag and dabbed the three claw marks on his stomach with disinfect and a healing solution, then wrapped it with gauze.

"Look at that, they have Advil here," I handed him the bottle, "Why were you on this path anyway?"

He took a minute to answer, "I- I- When it got dark last night I realized how scary it was- must have been for you, so I backtracked and went down the other path to find you."

It must have taken him all night to reach me, explains those circles, so I ignored my small annoyance at the comment and asked, "So are you traveling with me now?"

"Thought I might."

Still ignoring annoyance, "You want to sleep for a little while? I'll wait."

His expression became grateful and he said, "Thanks, that would be great."

* * *

><p>By six o'clock we'd come across another clearing, much like the one I stayed in last night, except it was about 5 times as big.<p>

"We should stop here for the night," Said Xavier.

"But it's not even dark yet."

"It's a nice clearing, and there's a good chance we won't find another one like it. And we could train for a while."

"That's a good idea. Growlithe, can I have your bone please?"

"_Growlithe!" _He'd found it digging that hole earlier.

I remember wondering, it seems like a lifetime ago, how you trained Pokémon without battling. But the _Information Book_ had told us all we needed to know about living in the Pokémon world.

"Growlithe, I want you to chase after this bone and bring it back to me as fast as you can."

"_Growe!" _ I threw it.

Xavier was rooting around in his backpack, and I was surprised when he took out two Poké Balls, "Wait, you didn't-," he opened them, "You actually caught the Teddiursa?"

"Yeah, I did. It's at level eight right now, so it can learn fury swipes. We'll work on that."

"But you just got Hoppip. Don't you think you should have-," Growlithe came back with the bone and I threw it again, "I don't know, bonded with him a little before getting another?"

"I know, I'm sticking with just these two for a while. Teddiursa, use scratch on that tree, then do it again with your other hand right after."

Xavier and his team went on with their training until dark and by that time Teddiursa had mastered fury swipes. Growlithe and I stayed at it for another hour or so after that, wanting to catch up to him level wise. Competitive I know, but hey, that's what rivals are for.

* * *

><p>"It was freezing last night!"<p>

We woke to the sound of a Duduo cawing a little way away from the clearing. We packed up without dawdling and set out, Growlithe at our heels and Hoppip spinning above our heads

"Maybe if you zip the sleeping bag all the way-"

"You had Growlithe curled up in there with you. Don't even." We walked on for a little bit. Then he said, as if it were totally unrelated, "When does Growlithe learn his first fire move? That should make it easy to have bonfires at night."

"I think it's at level seven or eight. Pokédex, when does Growlithe learn his next move?"

"Ember, level seven."

"Seven then."

"Yeah, fire tonight!"

"We should actually make it to Twixtin by tonight."

He took out his map. I noticed his chibi head had a tiny green hat on. "There's less than twenty miles left!" We walked a little faster. Neither of us could put into words how eager we were to see Twixtin.

"Guys!" A voice floated down the path from us, "I haven't gone on this trip just for you to sightsee! I wanted to stay for the festival. If your Pokémon haven't aged at least three levels by the time we reach the channel, I'm not taking you across.

"Come 'on Carni!"

"I don't care how you do it; battle wild Pokémon, each other, or someone else. You're my friends but I don't want weak traveling partners." Three teenage boys, and a Magmar, came into view. The boy who was talking, Carni, was black and wearing an orange scarf. "Oh, here battle these two."

The shortest of the boys who had bright yellow hair, came forward and asked, "Will you battle us?"

"Yeah."

"Sure."

"I'm Sikes. Which one of you is stronger?"

"I am," said Xavier. I shot him a look that he missed.

Sikes faced me and said, "Then I challenge you."

"Okay."

We backed away from each other to have a larger battle field, though the path was already too thin. Sikes took a Poké Ball out of his pack and opened it.

A little red fox, about half a foot shorter than Growlithe, with six tails appeared.

"Vulpix, level eight."

"Growlithe, level five," Issued from my opponent's backpack.

"Ability?" Asked Sikes.

"Classified," Answered his Pokédex.

"Shoot. Vulpix ember!"

"Growlithe's fire-type attacks rose."

"SHOOT! Well it's a good thing I've got my secret weapon. Vulpix-!"

"Growlithe, use bite and latch on."

Growlithe bit deeply into two of Vulpix's tails. I watched its HP fall on my Pokédex.

"Use quick attack to shake it off!" Growlithe flew forward and rolled to my feet, "Surprised, aren't you? Vulpix doesn't normally learn quick attack until level thirteen, but I-!"

"Growlithe, bite again!"

"Don't interrupt!"

"You talk too much."

"Rrrr. Quick attack again to shake him off," But this time Growlithe was ready, "Come 'on!" Vulpix's HP grew steadily lower and my foe became steadily more panicky.

"FOR MEW'S SAKE!" Called Carni, "Tell her to bash it against a tree!"

"Oh right! Vulpix…" But she had already feinted.

Growlithe walked over to me, wagging his poofy tail.

"Good job boy," I gave him a little rub.

My Pokédex sounded, "Growlithe has reached level seven."

"Great! Now you can learn ember."

As my opponent returned his Vulpix looking depressed, the other boy said, "My turn," He pulled a shrunken Poké Ball out of his pocket. He and Xavier sent out their selection at the same time.

"Hoppip, level ten."

"Ladyba, level eight."

Hoppip and Ladyba were zooming around in the air. Hoppip was spinning its green leaves like a propeller to make it go faster, but, having wings, the Ladyba still had an edge in the speed department. They had not yet battled against a flying Pokémon and I was curious as to how he would handle it. Turns out, he didn't handle it well. A minute later Hoppip fainted midair. Xavier returned him to his Poké Ball before he hit the ground.

"Ladyba grew to level nine."

"Yeah! Wait, man I only wanted a one-on-one, not a full party battle."

Xavier stopped mid Poké Ball toss, "Why not?"

"Ladyba needs to rest. And I, uh, only have one Pokémon."

The scarf kid stood up from his spot on the ground, "Thank you for battling my friends. It was lucky you were so evenly matched," He motioned for Sikes to stand up as well, "We'll be on our way."

I stood up quickly, "Wait, would you stay and talk a minute?"

"Yeah, sure."

We sat down near the edge of the path, partly in the trees, surrounded by bushes. Sikes spoke first, "Are you guys new trainers?" We nodded.

"How 'bout you?"

"Ouré and I are, but Carni's been traveling a long time, already has all the badges."

"I could have done Trune's tournament except I didn't get Harriet's badge fast enough. Magmar here is my strongest. Water doesn't agree with him." He joked, "Now I've got to wait another ten months to enter."

"When was Trune's tournament?" I asked, "Is it annual?"

They looked at me in confusion, Sikes answered, "It was in January. And yeah. Do you live in a ditch?"

Xavier was the next to speak, "She just forgot the date, is all."

"January tenth," Said Carni, still eyeing us suspiciously.

"Did you say something about a festival earlier?" Xavier asked.

They looked at us very confused for a minute then Carni started, "No way," a huge grin crept across his face, "No way! You guys are the victors aren't you!" He stood up, "This is so cool!"

At that moment I realized I didn't want anyone to know we were from the NPP Region. I thought quickly and forced a laugh, "You think we're the winners? What a laugh."

"Come 'on, you don't expect us to believe that." Said Ouré, "What are you guys doing out hear then? Where's your hometown."

Still trying to think fast I said the first town name I could remember from the map, "Bellice."

"You're not even pronouncing it right, it's Bell-Ice."

"That's how people have taken to calling it lately."

"Then how did you get here in route 713? You're heading toward Twixtin from nowhere."

Xavier saved me from answering, "My dad flew us here on his Tropius. He said Twixtin's gym leader was the easiest and that we should start here."

Carni sat down again, still looking suspicious, "Well he's wrong. Creighton is more like the third easiest. How long have you been out here?"

"A few days," I answered.

"I guess maybe you could have not known about the festival," He looked disappointed. "There's a nationwide festival going on right now, to celebrate the arrival of the victors."

"I still say the whole integration thing they're trying to do is a big waste of time and money," said Ouré, "I mean, two people a year? Come on."

"I think you mean immigration," said Sikes.

"Whatever."

Carni continued, "It started the day they arrived, and is supposed to last a week. It's why there are so few people out traveling right now; they're all in the cities, partying it up." For Ouré and Sikes's benefit he said, "What we should be doing."

After that we made some more small chitchat before the group moved on toward the channel. We waited a moment to watch them disappear around the bend. When they did we continued to Twixtin.


	3. Chapter 3

We heard it before we saw it, the noise of thousands of gleeful people having the time of their lives, singing and laughing. The euphonious music of bands and orchestras found us in the small bit of forest we had left to walk. We both broke at the same time and took it at a run, unable to wait any longer. The path opened up into an enormous grassy field, leading at a decline to the town, which was totally surrounded by it. The field was surrounded by the forest and the town sat in the center of it all like a baby Meowth curled up at the bottom of a bowl.

We flew down the field and Twixtin rushed up to meet us. Just before crossing the boundary of pavement and grass we slowed to a walk. We could still hear the music but there were no people. From the looks of it we'd walked into a residential district.

"Looks like a normal neighborhood to me."

I nodded in agreement, "I wonder if we could get a roadmap anywhere."

Before he could answer, we heard a door burst open behind us. We turned just in time to see a kid riding a Duduo hop over the threshold and run down the street toward us. As he drew even I called, "How do you get to the festival?"

He shouted back, "Go downhill!"

So we kept going and just like the grass/concrete boundary leading into the town, the boundary between the residential district and downtown was just as blunt. The buildings were all brightly colored and unusual. For example, we passed a mint green flower shop with plant murals covering every inch. And the... Radio Shack next to it was a vivid purple. At the moment the streets were filled with market stands and carnival games.

"Step right up! Step right up! Open the Poké Ball and win a prize." One of the carnival games was one of those things where you had to squirt water at a target and hold the flow steady long enough so whatever indicator you had sounded before anyone else's. In the Region the stream came from one of several plastic water Pokémon and you had to aim it at the button of a Poké Ball. The indicators were cardboard Poké Balls up on the wall that moved across it to the small cardboard trainers on the other side.

"Let's do it! I want to get my sister a doll- My- My dad made me promise I'd get her something." Yeah, nice save there X.

I sat down at a Squirtle and Xavier at a Whooper, filling the last of the eight seats available. The carnival barker rang a Poké Ball shaped bell and we were off.

I suck at carnival games.

With a large Celebi plush stuffed in his backpack, Xavier and I made our way deeper into Twixtin. We passed a lot of cool attractions but we stopped at an "unusual Pokémon" show.

"I have the largest collection of pink Butterfree in the world," The lady up now let them out and they flitted in the air above our heads. "They're more common than shiny Butterfrees who only have pink feet, mouths, hands, and wings. Normally they're scattered amongst the regular purple ones but I've gathered these five to live together." She had them do a few tricks and show off a few combined moves, then she returned them and left the stage.

A burly man walked on stage next, "I have the largest Zigzagoon ever recorded," He released it. Indeed, it was probably five times the normal size, "Would someone let one of their Pokémon help us with a display of strength?" Xavier started forward but I tugged on his sleeve, everyone else seemed extremely reluctant, "Oh come on! Is anyone brave enough?"

A middle-aged man with a cane, in a brown hat and suit brought out his Nidoqueen to the stage.

"Is she ready?"

"Brace yourself Londeen," The poison type widened its already wide stance, bent it's knees and held its arms out in front of it.

"Zigzagoon, Headbutt!" The Zigzagoon, nearly as tall as Londeen, ran headlong into it. When they both fell off the stage they were returned in a flash of red light by their trainers, Zigzagoon's rather sheepishly.

"Hi, I'm Prolly Mottowa from the Ottowa Breeding Farm on route 717," A sweet-voiced boy with a bright red, curly, glimmering bowl-cut came on stage, "I've come to show you the second shiny Pokémon born at our farm." From the full Poké Ball carrying sash across his chest, he released a young, wobbly-kneed Ponyta with blue fire on stage, "Meet Dratalla!"

When Prolly left the stage we went on to enjoy the rest of the festival. Spending our money carefully, we played games, ate food, listened to music, watched more shows, and even went on rides (that is until Xavier turned green). When the sky turned pink we asked around for the direction of Twixtin's Pokémon Center.

A nice lady toting a toddler told us, "Go clockwise three roads and uphill a bit."

Caught up in the festival fun, we'd forgotten about our families, so we deciphered the directions and got there quickly.

The building was huge; we spotted the bright red roof from a block away, and inside the first floor was at least two stories tall. The wall across from the front doors was where injured Pokémon were brought and near the back of the right wall was an outlet that seemed to be selling food. Covering the rest of that wall were green video phones. The left wall was covered in doors. Remembering that the _Information Book_ said you could stay in Pokémon Centers, we guessed that was where trainers slept. And scattered everywhere, were tables and chairs, couches and coffee tables where travelers of all ages were eating, talking, and playing with their Pokémon.

"Wow... Xavier?" I turned in a circle and found he'd already sat down at a phone, trying to call home. I went and sat down at the booth next to him.

I took the phone off the jack and punched the keypad beneath it. *23-1-630-555-0172. Just when I was starting to think no one was home, or that the video phone hadn't been installed yet, Johnny screamed my name into the receiver. "Skye! Skye! Where are you? How are... How do I... turn on the video... There! Can you see me?"

"I can see you Johnny," There was Johnny, grinning from ear to ear. It was like nothing had changed, like I hadn't left the country and would be going to sleep above him in just a few hours.

"You look like you haven't brushed your hair in a while. Or showered."

"I just made it to town today."

"So where- Oh! Let me see your Pokémon!"

I let Growlithe out on the floor then lifted him up to sit on my lap where Johnny could see him. Johnny stared, slack-jawed for a moment. Growlithe licked the screen and Johnny laughed.

"Cool! Are you going to nickname him? Or her?"

"I don't think so. So what's up?"

"Yesterday Mom and Dad took us to the Shedd Aquarium. It was great! We saw the Polar Express in 4-D and the dolphin show together. We stayed at the Jellies exhibit for a long time and when we left they bought us each a glass Jellies ornament. Mine's Green!" He ran to get it from its spot hanging on the bed and brought it back to show me.

"That's so great Johnny!"

"Yeah," Here he smiled blissfully, remembering. I was glad Johnny was finally getting some attention.

We talked for a lot longer about random things. I showed him my map and Pokédex, and he told me how the video game club practically made him their king when he told them that his sister had won. And that he had finished SoulSilver.

"How's Roy?"

"Roy left less than an hour ago; he's been over a lot. He wanted to be here when you called, but I'll tell him to come over in the morning, so he can talk when you call again.

"And Brianna? You want to go get her?"

"I don't think she wants to leave her room."

"Why?"

"... The neighbor boys, Aiden Caden and Jaden, threw paint at her in school today. She was covered in it and they didn't even get caught!" Those horrible boys had been mean to her all winter! And since they lived next door, Brianna couldn't even get away from them when school ended.

"Those awful-!" I sighed, "Will she want to talk in the morning? What time should I call?"

"I'll ask her, but I don't know. And I think 6:40 should be good. That's around the time Roy leaves for school."

"Hey, what time is it?"

"6:40."

"No, I mean now."

"Uhh. Four-thirty."

"What?" I checked my Pokédex, "Oh, I'd forgotten about time zones, it's 7:30 in Tenkimaguro. I should-"

"Is that the other victor?"

"Hmm?" I turned, Xavier was waiting behind me, "Yeah,"

"Do you _liiiike _him?"

I turned beet red, "Wha- No!"

Johnny waved to Xavier but was left hanging. "Well, good-bye Skye," and he waved at me.

I waved back, "Good-bye," The screen went black.

Xavier spoke, "Do you want to exchange our families' phone numbers?"

"Why?"

"In case they need to be called and one of us can't do it."

"Good idea." I had him write his family's in my notebook, and I gave him a sheaf with mine's on it.

"You ready to go get a room now?"

"Mmhmm," We walked over to the nurse Joy behind the counter at the back of the room, "Could we have a room please?"

"Of course. Would you mind sharing a room with someone since your group is made of two? We are a little short at the moment because of the festival."

"Sure."

"Could you give me an estimate on how long you'll be staying?"

"We'll probably be here tomorrow and part of then next day."

"Here's your key, you're in room 34."

"Thank you."

We found the wall of doors was labeled one through ten, so we went down number three and continued down a small corridor to room four. The room held two bunk beads, a small table and a bathroom. Upon entering, we found the room's other inhabitant already asleep.

Xavier took a closer look, "Hey! It's that Prolly kid."

"Well, let's not wake him up."

We took turns in the shower. I went second so Xavier was already asleep on the top bunk when I came out. When I lay down, I felt the picture of Roy, Johnny and I in my pocket. I looked at it and smiled.

The next day was devoted entirely to training.

I had planned on talking to Prolly, but he was gone before we woke. So, after a short call with Johnny, having just missed Roy, we went straight to the battle club.

Twixtin's gym was a ground gym. And, with only one fire Pokémon, needing to go up against at least 2 ground types, we worked a lot on agility.

You could battle a gym leader two-on-two to six-on six, but, according to the _Information Book_ challengers were allowed to use only one Pokémon, but it was required that they defeat at least two of the gym leader's Pokémon.

It was a crowded place, the Unova franchise. But as much as I disliked it, it did get the job done. When Growlithe and I fell into bed, after 12 hours of training, including 68 battles, he had reached level 32.

"SKYE!"

"Bluh,"

"Bluh?"

"Sorry," I rubbed my eyes, "What?"

"ARE YOU READY?"

"My god you're loud."

"Me? Do you know how much you talk in your sleep? Kept me up half the night."

"Really? Sorry. Johnny never mentioned that."

"That's real interesting. Anyway, get dressed it's time to face the gym leader."

We left early in the morning and people had just started coming out to join the festival fun again. We asked the guy at the rice ball stand where the gym was. He mumbled something that sounded like travelers.

"You know, they give out free maps at the Pokémon Centers."

"Oh."

"Could you just tell us?" Asked Xavier.

"Are you gonna buy something?"

"We were planning on it."

"Just go downhill."

So we walked downhill for about an hour munching on rice balls to find, at the center of the city, the very lowest point, the Pokémon gym. It was almost as big as the Pokémon Center, but it wasn't white or red, and it wasn't quite a normal building. It seemed to be made entirely of indiscriminate rocks and boulders held together with mud. It was all shades of gray and brown and was half submerged in the ground.

I looked at Xavier and found he wasn't being his cocky self. In fact, he looked quite nervous. Similar to the moment he met Hoppip for the first time.

"You ready?" I asked

He regained his composure and smirked, "Ready as you'll ever be."

I rolled my eyes and we pushed open the one of the heavy stone doors leading inside. The door we choose opened directly onto a huge dirt battlefield, surrounded by raised bleachers. The place was completely empty, save the greeter walking over to us from several yards away.

In a bored voice he said, "If you would like a training membership-"

Xavier cut him off, "We came to challenge the gym leader."

"Very well," he said in an equally bored voice and walked across the field to a door on the other side.

Shortly after his exit, a very tall, burley man, with a full belt of Pokémon entered. The greeter trailed behind him.

"Which one of you will be battling?" He had a powerful, commanding voice that made us feel very insignificant.

"Both of us... sir," I said.

"Who first?"

After a pause, lasting a bit too long, Xavier said, "Me."

"Very well. How many Pokémon will you be using?"

"Two," said Xavier.

"Oh, new trainers."

"Excuse me?" I said.

"Only new trainers pick the two-on-two battle type," he sighed, "Let's get this over with. George," he said to the greeter.

"Yes, Creighton."

"Go get the trainers." George left. "If you will wait a minute." Trainers filed out of the back doors, filling the stands, "All spectators must watch from the bleachers," he directed at me.

I climbed the steps and sat in a front row, which was still far above the field and watched Creighton and Xavier walk to separate ends.

It was over quickly.

Creighton's first and only choice was a Sandslash. Teddiursa was taken out with only one use of fury swipes and sand tomb. Poor Teddiursa barely made a scratch. The newly evolved Skiploom did a bit better, actually lasting long enough to put Sandslash's HP into the orange, but rollout did him in.

Sandslash was returned in a flash of red, "Next challenger!" Creighton boomed.

Xavier crossed me on the stairs, his emotions betraying him only a moment before passing.

Creighton and I stood across the field from each other for a moment before he choose to send out a Dugtrio. He probably thought he was giving me an advantage by letting me choose my Pokémon second. Out Growlithe came and it was on.

"Duggit, mud bomb."

"Dodge it!"

"Mud bomb."

"Dodge."

"Mud bomb."

None of the hard-packed balls of mud were hitting Growlithe, thankfully the agility training had paid off, but the battle was still going nowhere and Growlithe would get tired eventually.

"Get closer Growlithe."

"_Growe!"_

As he got closer it became harder for him to dodge, but he was still managing by the time he was in range for "Take down!" Growlithe recklessly charged at the Dugtrio full force, he got in a direct hit, but, of course, in tern 25% of the damage he caused it was dealt to him. It wasn't my favorite move, but it was the only attack Growlithe could do that would deal any real damage to a ground type right now. Directly after the move, Creighton commanded Duggit to hide underground.

"Magnitude!" The ground shook beneath my feet and I had a hard time keeping my footing, but that was nothing compared to the conditions Growlithe was enduring, so close to the epicenter.

"Come on Growlithe, stand up and walk to the hole!" Shakily, Growlithe slowly made his way to the hole Duggit disappeared down, all the while dodging debris. "Quickly, use flame burst down it, you can do it!"

Growlithe stuck his face into it and shuddered, from the effort and the magnitude. After about a minute of this, the magnitude stopped and Growlithe popped his head out of the hole.

Creighton went and suck a Poké Ball down the hole, recalling Dugtrio. He then let him out above ground and the referee declared him fainted. I heard someone in the audience say, "What a cheap trick, it's not like anyone's ever tried that before."

At this point Growlithe wasn't looking that bad. He still had more than half of his health left, it must have been a low level magnitude, and he was bouncing around on the field excitedly. I thought, maybe it wasn't such an awful decision, facing a gym with only one Pokémon.

And then Creighton sent out his last choice and I knew it had been a tremendous mistake.

A six foot tall Swampert stood over Growlithe. Three times as tall as him, it would have been able to grind Growlithe into the dirt with one foot.

Creighton gave one command. "Muddy water," and it was all over

The ground shook again. Growlithe was cowering and I, as scared as him, couldn't think of a command. I didn't even know what was coming, and if I had, there was nothing I could say that would have prepared him.

The dirt turned into mud beneath his feet, indeed, beneath anyone on the battlefield's. I sunk to my knees. Instantly the battlefield was submerged in grim, brown, murky water. If I could guess, I'd say it came from the ground. I couldn't see more than a foot in any direction and it came so suddenly, I hadn't had time to take a breath. I couldn't imagine what Growlithe must be feeling and it was him, not my burning lungs, I thought of as I kicked to escape the mud. When I did, I realized I would have been better off stuck in it. Having zero swimming abilities, the current tossed me in every direction easily. Even figuring which way was up was an impossibility.

When black spots began to seep into my vision, I breathed in the detrital water. As I was about to give in, something large and furry collided with my head. I could no longer see him but I hugged Growlithe to my chest. I fumbled for his ball on my belt but the current made it impossible.

As suddenly as it came, it was gone, and I was flat on my back clinging Growlithe, unconscious and his fur heavy with water, to my chest. As I vomited, at last I found his ball on my belt and returned him.

When finally I could get air in my lungs and my sight started to return, the first thing I saw was Xavier's face above me. He lifted me in his arms like a rag doll and walked toward (presumably) the door. But I protested enough that he set me on my feet and held me steady.

Creighton appeared before us, bone dry, "I don't suppose you'll continue, being a new trainer," He said condescendingly. Not wanting anyone's scorn at my ignorance of taking on a gym with only one Pokémon, I didn't disagree. He continued in a kinder voice, "Will you need any help getting back to the Center?"

When I tried to respond I only coughed up more mud. I squeezed Xavier's arm. Reading my mind, he said coldly, "No, we'll be just fine." And he led me, coated with mud, back to the Pokémon Center.


End file.
